For 30 years, Morry Stein was the owner and director of Camp Echo Lake, one of America’s premier children’s summer camps, and he was a national leader in the American Camping Association. Morry died in the crash of American Eagle flight 4184 on October 31, 1994, in Roselawn, Indiana.

An icon in the camping world, Morry, and his wife Amy, rose to the forefront of the industry by establishing Echo Lake as one of the finest camps in the country. Over his 30 years in camping, Morry came to realize the indelible impact that camping has on children. Morry sought to make camp available to all children not just those from upper middle class families. So in 1970, he established the Echo Lake Idea, a week long scholarship camping program for disadvantaged children. The "Idea" was then, and remains today, one of the only programs of its kind in the United States, sponsored by a private camp. The Echo Lake Idea has served over 2,000 children during its 26 year history.

To Morry, the Echo Lake Idea was just the tip of the iceberg. His goal was to give every American child, no matter what his or her economic status, the gift of summer camp.

On October 28, 1994, Morry went to the American Camping Association’s headquarters in Martinsville, Indiana. As Chairperson of the American Camping Foundation(ACF), a foundation that had raised over $1,000,000 to send disadvantaged children to summer camp, Morry was there to head the ACF’s annual board meeting. The meeting was charged with excitement because the foundation was nearing its fundraising goal and because the gift so needed by America’s children was about to be given.

Morry’s life was taken on his return flight home on October 31, 1994, before he could fulfill his dream, and the dream of so many youngsters.

Inspired by that dream, and to ensure that his vision of summer camp for all children becomes a reality, Morry’s friends, colleagues, and family created Morry’s Camp (now Project Morry).